Vimeo acquires tech start-up VHX

The acquisition will allow the VOD site to offer creators more options for distribution, including SVOD, transactional and standalone streaming sites.

As VOD service Vimeo continues to expand its portfolio in the online video space to include transactional and subscription video services, it’s acquired OTT platform VHX.

VHX (which is not an acronym but a nod to the retro VHS tape system) is a start-up founded by Jamie Wilkinson and Casey Pugh in 2012. Its business focus is not a consumer-facing platform like Vimeo or YouTube but rather on providing back-end support to enable users to launch their own SVOD service and transactional streaming services. Since its launch, it has powered streaming sites for the likes of Vice, the Foo Fighters (pictured), Comedy Central and Drafthouse Films.

The technology is particularly appealing to Vimeo, which has made numerous moves to diversify its VOD offerings in the past three years — in 2013, it launched its Vimeo On Demand platform, allowing creators to sell their content at their own set prices, and last year it enabled creators to launch their own SVOD channels. The main difference between VHX’s service and Vimeo’s service is that Vimeo-powered SVOD channels appear on Vimeo’s site, whereas VHX-powered sites were standalone services.

With the acquisition of VHX, Vimeo will be able to offer its creators more options for content distribution, such as ad-supported streaming, transactional VOD, subscription services and standalone streaming sites.

VHX’s entire team will stay on board, with Wilkinson reporting to Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor.